Selena Gomez Shuts Down Body Shamers After Bikini Photos

On Monday (March 19), it was hard to look anywhere on the internet without coming across photos of Selena Gomez in a bikini. Normally, this wouldn't be big news: Celebrities, especially female ones, are often photographed baring some skin while on vacation, usually with headlines that tout some variation of "scantily clad" or "barely there," as if it's a novelty to wear a swimsuit when spending time in or around water.

But this happened to mark the first time Gomez's scars from her kidney transplant were visible, and the resulting images swiftly made the rounds online. Some criticized her for looking "thick" or pregnant, as internet trolls are wont to do, while tabloids hailed her for displaying the scars proudly. It is, apparently, an act of bravery to be seen in public with a flaw — or, in this case, while around your friends on a private yacht while paparazzi snap pictures of you from shore.

Gomez, for her part, seemed to find all of the brouhaha a bit ridiculous, and took to Instagram on Tuesday (March 20) to let everyone know she doesn't need their commentary on her body, thank you.

"The beauty myth- an obsession with physical perfection that traps modern woman in an endless cycle of hopelessness, self consciousness, and self-hatred as she tries to fulfill society’s impossible definition of flawless beauty," she captioned a video from the yacht trip on Instagram, referencing Naomi Wolf's feminist 1990 novel, The Beauty Myth. "I chose to take care of myself because I want to, not to prove anything to anyone.
Wind in her sails."

"I have a bit of an obtrusion that will be there forever," she said on TheToday Show of her stomach in October. "And that means I’m going to have to dress differently. It was really, really massive at first. I ended up having to get it drained [initially to reduce the size]."

Ultimately though, Gomez told Billboard she feels comfortable with how she looks now. ""I do [feel comfortable with my scars]. I didn't, but I do now," she told the outlet in November. "[After the surgery] I had this sense of gratitude for myself. I don’t think I’ve ever just stopped and been like, 'I’m actually grateful for who I am.'"